TO JUDGE by the headlines, things are getting pretty hairy in the western Balkans. Newspapers have been running articles arguing that borders should be redrawn. Russia’s foreign ministry has accused Western officials of promoting a Greater Albania. Montenegro claims that Russia was behind an alleged coup attempt last November aimed at stalling its accession to NATO. Serbia has excoriated the president of Kosovo for suggesting that his demilitarised country might form an army, and Macedonia has lashed out against Kosovo and Albania for supposedly interfering in its domestic affairs.
Most of these clashes are empty posturing by leaders who are facing elections or other domestic challenges. But they have had one real consequence: Western governments have become alarmed enough to start paying attention again. Johannes Hahn, the European Union’s commissioner for enlargement, says that EU governments have been pushing him for ideas on how to keep the region stable. The result is a plan for a western Balkan common market, backed both by local leaders and by the EU itself.
On March 16th, at a summit in Sarajevo with the prime ministers of the six Balkan countries...Continue reading
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